The Cartographers’ Guild is a forum created by and for map makers and aficionados, a place where every aspect of cartography can be admired, examined, learned, and discussed. Our membership consists of professional designers and artists, hobbyists, and amateurs—all are welcome to join and participate in the quest for cartographic skill and knowledge.

Although we specialize in maps of fictional realms, as commonly used in both novels and games (both tabletop and role-playing), many Guild members are also proficient in historical and contemporary maps. Likewise, we specialize in computer-assisted cartography (such as with GIMP, Adobe apps, Campaign Cartographer, Dundjinni, etc.), although many members here also have interest in maps drafted by hand.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ. You will have to register before you can post or view full size images in the forums.

Riven - my work in progress

So, I didn't find a forum for works in progress, so I decided to post it here. Feel free to tell me how stupid I am for not finding where this was supposed to go.

I posted about my earlier, finished, Myst Maps in an earlier thread and got some positive feedback on the mountain shading. I myself doesn't like them very much though and I think the Stoneship map (the one with the boat in the rock) looks awful. I have been trying to improve with this with the Riven map (and I'm sure I'll re-visit those Myst maps to do the same there).

These are two images from two Riven islands; Temple Island and Jungle Island. If you've played the game, I'm sure you'll recognize them. They're made in Photoshop and I use a Wacom Cintiq to hand-draw pretty much all content.

The island outline is drawn on a layer and has the brownish color as an overlay. The shading, lighting and paths are clipping layers for that layer and both are set to blend with "overlay", so the colors blend in a more natural way.

I'd like some comments on the ridges and the shading and lighting of the mountain/hills. The Temple island (the one with the huge yellow dome) is a bit too noisy, and I realize this, I will probably redo the entire smaller island when I get the chance. It's so very time consuming this process.

These are obviously in progress, and if you like I could post new progress images until they are done, if there is any interest. This is for my sake, however, since progress usually is swifter when there is some form of interest in said progress Anyway, thanks in advance!

You know they say that a work of art is never finished until you take it away from the artist. I have to force myself to stop a lot of the time and just walk away, hehe.

“When it’s over and you look in the mirror, did you do the best that you were capable of? If so, the score does not matter. But if you find that you did your best you were capable of, you will find it to your liking.” -John Wooden

The squares are actually integral to the game, where the location of the rotating dome (the small one in the upper part on an island of its own) is in one specific square of each map that relates to a puzzle you need to solve later in the game. The dome is large enough to fit one man inside of it, so I guess it's at least 3-4 meters in diameter, and the square is slightly larger, so...